Homewood soldier was 1st target at Fort Hood

Aunt says gunman chased nephew at soldier readiness center

November 09, 2009|By Georgia Garvey and William Lee, Tribune reporters

A Homewood soldier told his family a horrifying account of being the first one shot Thursday in the Fort Hood, Texas, rampage, then crawling to try to reach safety, only to be chased down and shot again.

Army Pfc. Najee Hull, 21, was shot three times, twice in the back and once in the knee, said Sheila Hull-Smith, who said she is Hull's aunt.

Her nephew told her in a phone conversation that he was the first victim in the shooting, Hull-Smith said. He was preparing to complete paperwork to be deployed to Afghanistan when he was shot once in the knee, she said.

He made his way into a nearby cubicle to try to escape, Hull-Smith said, but the gunman followed and shot him two more times.

Nate Hull said on Sunday that his brother has been moved from intensive care and is doing adequately "given the circumstances."

"We're just trying to get him some rest," he said from his brother's room in Scott and White Hospital in Temple, Texas, where 10 of those injured were taken.

Four men and women from Chicago and the surrounding region lost their lives in Thursday's shooting: Pvt. Francheska Velez, 21, of Chicago; Pfc. Michael Pearson, 22, of Bolingbrook; Staff Sgt. Justin DeCrow, 32, of Plymouth, Ind.; and Capt. Russell Seager of Racine, Wis.

Seager's family recalled an intelligent, quiet family man who joined the Army Reserve four years ago because of his desire to help troubled returning soldiers.

Trained as a nurse, Seager, 51, worked with soldiers suffering from post-traumatic stress disorder at a Veterans Affairs hospital in Milwaukee, his family said.

But Seager wasn't content simply helping those at the VA medical center and was spurred to enlist. This year he pursued a deployment to Afghanistan, where he would have helped soldiers suffering from combat stress.

"I've always had a great deal of respect for the military and for service, and I just felt it was time that I stepped up and did it," Seager said in an August interview with Milwaukee's public radio station. "It sounds corny and patriotic, but when you talk to people that decide to do this, the feelings are similar."

In a telephone interview Sunday, Seager's uncle Larry Seager said, "I think it inspired him to try to help the people as they come back from overseas, even try to help them when they go over. He just wanted to help."

Seager's work filled him with pride, though he was never one to celebrate his own sacrifice.

"Rusty would never brag about anything, but you could just tell (that he was proud) in the way he talked. He wasn't a guy who tried to pat himself on the back," Larry Seager said.

In addition to his VA work, Seager had a doctorate in alternative medicine and taught classes at Bryant & Stratton College in Milwaukee. Growing up in Racine, Seager was always an excellent student and enjoyed the thrill he received from learning, his uncle said.

"Every chance he got, he went to school. ... He said, 'I'll never be too old to go to school because there's always something to learn,'" Larry Seager said.

Russell Seager is survived by his wife, Cindy; his son, Joe; his father, Vernon; and his sister, Barbara Prudhomme. Members of Seager's family, including his father, wife and son, planned to travel to Texas for a memorial service.

Funeral arrangements hadn't been finalized, but Seager would likely be buried in Wonewoc, where his mother is buried, Larry Seager said.

Some of Velez's high school classmates plan to hold a candlelight vigil at 4 p.m. Monday in the 4300 block of West Kamerling Avenue in Chicago.

The public is invited, and friends ask that attendees bring a white candle to the service.

Funeral services for Velez haven't yet been planned, but the family expects to know more by Wednesday, said her aunt Margarita Montero.

Pearson's brother Kristopher Craig said services will be held this weekend with more detailed information coming Monday.

Hull-Smith said the family feels great sorrow for the families of those who died, but they also thank God that Hull was spared.

"It might be a story for you all, but it's a miracle for us," she said. "The lord spared Najee's life."